Wheel for roller-skates.



B. E. CLARK.

WHEEL FOE ROLLER SKATES.

APPLICATION FILED IEB.11, 1913.

1,1 30,794. Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

WITNESSES I U ATORNE THE NORFIS PETERS CO PHDTO-LITHO.. WASHINGrON. D t

BURTON EAR-L CLARK, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

XVHEEL FOR ROLLER-SKATES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedMar. 9, 1915.

Application filed February 11, 1913. Serial No. 747,751.

To all whom/it may concern:

Be it known that I, BURTON E (been, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county. of Allegheny and.

made of a glue composition, wood, steel,

aluminum, or paper fiber. These different materials have been found to be too soft or too expensive, or in the case of metal wheels they have been found to wear oif on the floors of skating rinks, necessitating frequent treatment of the floor to keep it clean and prevent ruining the clothing of the skaters in case of a fall. Wood has the further disadvantage of wearing irregularly and also requiring grit on the floor to prevent slipping. Furthermore, all composition wheels heretofore used have proven to be failures. Again, practically all wheels now in use and prior to the present invention require grit of some kind on the skat ing surface to prevent slipping, there being a number of such grit preparations'on the market and quantities of them are sold.

The wheel of the present invention is a composition wheel burned and tempered so hard that no ordinary file or drill will make any impression on it. The composition is capable of being molded and is combined with metal parts in the form of face plates and a hub to produce a wheel'capable of being secured to a skate in the usual manner. The wheels of the present invention are extremely hard showing no perceptible efiect after long constant service and, moreover, they are so hard that they will not pick up gum or dirt from a skating rink floor, and as they do not wear off they can be used on a perfectly white surface like a dancing floor and leave no marks.

A further feature of the present invention is that the grain or surface of the wheel is such that it will not'slip in use, producing thereby what is known as a non-slip wheel.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, with the further understanding that while the drawings show a practicalfembodiment of the invention the latter is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawings but may be changed and modified so long as such changes and modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention. 7

In the drawings: Figure 1 is an elevation of a completed wheel constructed. in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the composition member of the wheel with the other parts omitted.

In the drawings there is shown a body member 1 in the form of an annulus having a portion of the sides toward the center de pressed as shown at 2, so that such portion of the body member or annulus 1 is thinner at the depressed portion than at the outer portion. Extending axially through the annulus is a hub 3 which may conform generally to hubs such as are employed in the wvheels of roller skates for the reception of. ball bearings and for the passage of the axle.

or spindle, and as the structure of the hub forms no part of the present invention no detailed description thereof is deemed necessary. It is customary to form the hubs with a central peripheral groove 4 and when the body member or annulus 1 is in place upon the hub the groove 4 serves as a receptacle for a mass 5 of a cementing material such as sulfur, which will adhere with suflicient tenacity to the hub 3 formed of metal and the body member 1 formed of a composition to be described. The wheel is completed by these plates 6 mounted on the hub and bearing against the sides of the annulus l, be-

ing suitably shaped to conform to the depressions 2 and through such last named parts of the face plates there are passed bolts 7 traversing radial grooves 8 through the de pressed portions 2 of the annulus 1 and opening into the central portion of the annulus. The face plates are of slightly less diameter than the annulus 1 so that there is presented at the edge of the wheel atread portion 9 exterior to the outer peripheral edges of the face plates 6.

The annulus or body portion of the roller is composed of porcelain which presents a fine hard close-grained surface highly resistant to wear, not adherent to gum or dirt which may be found upon a skating rink floor, and, furthermore, presenting a surface which will not slip upon nor mar a 7 5 more or less brittle and breaks easily. 7 This 1 is avoided in the present invention by adding to the porcelain white silica, such as isemployed in the manufacture of white glass. The silica toughens the porcelain so that it 0 is no longer brittle under the conditions of use. Further, by theaddition of arsenic the composition becomes so hardened'that files and metal drills have practically no impress'ion thereupon.

The composition portion of the wheel is molded into shape and burned in the same manner as is usually employed in the production of porcelain articles. The hub is then placed in the center of the body memher and sealed therein with melted sulfur, after which the side or face plates which may be made of steel stampings are applied and the' parts are clamped together by the bolts 7. F or ornamental and protective purposes the metal parts may be nickel plated,

as' is customary. The wheels are then finished by being placed upon mandrels and ground true by emery wheels or other suitable devices for a like purpose.

The face plates 6 are proportioned to the body" member 1 which constitutes the tread of the wheel, so that the peripheral or tread portion of the body member projects somewhat beyond the peripheries of the face plates and these last-named members serve to prevent chipping of the body member.

The'cost of production of the wheel of'the present invention is less than that of a wheel of'aluminum' or fiber. 40 The composition employed for. the tread of the'wheel is porcelain which may be renderedfltou'gh by the addition of silica andv rendered hard by the addition of arsenic.-

Suchcomposition is now known in the trade as white glass composition and the propor tions of the ingredients which have proven satisfactory, though by no means the only proportions that may be employed, are as follows: 5 For use on wooden floor surfaces Porcelain '1 pound 7 Silica 4 ounces Arsenious acid or arsen1c 1 ounce For use on cement surfaces Porcelain l pound Silica 8 ounces Arsenic ounce What is claimed is tread" portion, composed of hardened and tempered porcelain.

2.; A wheel for roller skates having a tread portion of porcelain containing addi- 5 tional'silica;

3. A wheel for roller skates having a tread portion of porcelain containing a1 senic and additional silica.

4c. A wheel for roller skates having a 7 tread portion composed of porcelain, a toughening agent and a hardening agent.

' 5. A wheel for roller skates comprising an annulus of porcelain with a metallic hub secured thereto, and protecting face plates at the sides thereof exterior to the hub and there provided with clamping means connecting said' face plates.

6. A wheel for roller skates comprising an annulus of porcelain with a metallic hub 0 secured thereto, protecting face plates at the sides of the annulus and exteriorto the hub, and clamping means connecting the face plates together and traversing the porcelain annulus. 5

7. A wheel for roller skates comprising a molded annular body composed of porcelain with transverse slots opening through the inner periphery of the annulus, a hub united to the annulus'and traversing the central portion thereof, face plates on opposite sidesof the annulus, andsecuring devices traversing the face plates and theslots in the annulus. V

8. A wheel for roller skates comprising an annular porcelain body forming the tread portion of the wheel, and a metallic hub interior to the annulus with an intermediate cementing material adherent to both the metallic hub and the annulus, and metallic face plates for the annulus exterior to r the hub and stoppin'gshort of the periphery and otherwise smooth wearing surface;

9. A wheel for roller skates having a tread of hard fine-grained baked and tempered porcelain.

10. A wheel for roller skatescomposed of molded and baked, hardened and tempered porcelain presenting a fine-grained hard and otherwise smooth wearing surfaces.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing" as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

I v depictofthis iate'nt may b e obtainedfdr five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, Di 0. 

